Tales Of Mysterious Smells And Imaginative Excuses

By Jas Faulkner  One of the advantages of having friends who work in different fields is that one person’s talking shop is another person’s entertainment for the evening. Two friends from way back now run a UBS somewhere in Mississippi.  It doesn’t matter how stupid the tort, how outrageous the fortune of those who call … Read more

The Book That Broke The Dry Spell

It should have been an epic. A mind blowing cosmic revelation. A classic never read. Or at least a good mystery. Not even close. And yet, I began it, continued, and low and behold, finished the entire 320 pages. I should have been ecstatic. Thrilled. At a minimum, relieved. After all, it had been a … Read more

What Makes a Southern Writer Southern?

by Jas Faulkner The Southern US as it exists in the minds of anyone who lives elsewhere is a collection of tortured memories of required texts from high school, stereotypes that have been perpetuated by the media, and assumptions of regressive attitudes towards everything.    Thinking, reading, writing southerners everywhere know that there is more … Read more

How Do You Get A Job Like That?

by Jas Faulkner  At a recent gathering of writers in Nashville, the conversation turned to the recent popularity of E. L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy. Everyone weighed in on their ability to write erotica and whether they felt it would hurt or hinder a writer’s credibility.  During the conversation, Trisha, who was one … Read more

Books I Almost Read

Almost is the key word in the above title. Struggling to retrieve the joy and inspiration I acquire when reading has been tough, and tedious. I’ve opened and begun a slew of books. Some deserved to be abandoned quickly, others may have had potential that I ignored, and some were obviously quite good, and those … Read more